Installed new rear shocks, on my 99 4runner with 170,000 miles... Took off the factory originals...

WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE... I will be doing the front in a couple weeks..
I used KYB Gas-Adjust and they are great definitely stiffer than stock, but the ride quality is better. Handling is greatly improved.

I must say that the person who designed the top shock mount should be drug into the street, flogged repeatedly with a spoiled fish..

Luckily after 10~15 min of trying to use a wrench or ratchet, I just took a big pair of channel locks and turned the shock while the ratchet was pinned against the frame..

highly recommended if you have high miles on your shocks. I still cant get over how much better it drives... and I still have the front to do.

 

Have you replaced the springs yet?

 

No, my truck does not sag, so I have not felt the need to... I would like to do like a 1~2" lift sometime... so maybe in the future... I will get new coils all the way around..

why?

 

I did the same job this weekend. I installed 4 Tokico Trekmasters. Yes, the rear shock mounts are atrocious.

Here's a few things I learned, pardon me if they have already been covered in a previous post:

-On the rear shocks. Removing the spare tire gives you much more room to work (duh!)

-Removing the factory shock; jack up the truck and let the suspension hang to full extension. This also gives you more room to work.

-On the factory shock, the top of the shock body (where it meets the piston) it is squared off. You can use a big adjustable wrench to hold the shock body while turning the nut on top of the piston. It will either turn or snap off.

-When I removed the shocks, I wired brushed light rust off the shock mount and gave it a quick coat of black enamel. It made me feel better.

-As for the front shocks, use a heavy duty spring compressor. The one you used on your wife's minivan probably won't work. Upon re-assembly, make sure the spring and the cap is lined up exactly the way it came off. (Yes, I learned the hard way). This involved taking the coil over assembly apart and doing it all over again, as well as beating my head against the garage door.

Other than that, my truck rides better and tracks straighter. 2 thumbs up.

 

yeah the rear shocks were a pain on the top, after a body lift though things are completely different, now you can go inside the wheel well and tighten standing up woohoo!

 

thanks for the tip on the struts... I am probably going to take them to my cousin's shop and swap the springs over there when I tackle it.. My brother has a set of spring compressors but they are a PIA... I was planning to wait until I did a lift and do it all, but after the improvement with the rear shocks.. I am going to go ahead...
I am still deciding on a Body lift or a suspension lift.. I really only want maybe 1~2"... Just to get a couple sizes bigger tire, not really for off roading never have even tried going off road..
Never thought about taking out the spare, but it wasnt too bad once I broke out the big channel locks... shocks were trashed, but I was throwing them away anyways...

 

You don't have to line up the upper mount, just stick a big screwdriver in the bottom shock mount and twist and it will line back up.

 

I tried that. I mounted the assembly in a vise and it would not budge. With the '99 springs there was no way to turn the shock body to make it line up.

I just disasembled it and did it over again.

 

Good luck on the fronts....I got so frustrated on the rears (and I have done tons of these on other vehicles) that I gave up and took it to Lexutech (Toyota and Lexus specialists in Fort Worth who are awesome) to do the fronts...they had a real hard time getting the new ones on. They had to remove some of the front suspension components to get enough room to get them on. It was worth every penny I paid them to put them on. Bad thing is, I went with the Bilsteins, which I have used before with great results....and I hate them!!! When I hit a dip, my truck porposes like a pickup with bad shocks. They are way too loose for me....I should have gone with the KYB's or Tokicos. My stock shocks were much better! The stocks are Tokicos which my Nissans have also had...they are awesome. I may just replace the rears and see if that makes a difference.

 

If you thought the shocks made that much of a difference wait until you upgrade the springs!

 

Even if your coils aren't sagging it doesn't mean they aren't tired since most coils I've noticed lose their firmness at around 100k so at 170k they definetly are a long ways from preforming the way they should. If you're replacing shocks you should just do it all at the same time to save you the time and trouble.

 

I want to do a lift down the road, I will replace the springs then.. I have had many cars with 100K plus and never heard of such problems before my 4runner..

 

You've never heard of a spring starting sag as they age? They definitely do, no spring is immune to it. Plus wait until you see a Toyota OEM spring next to an aftermarket spring. The aftermarket spring is wound much tighter (more coils) and the thickness of the spring material is quite a substantial difference.

 

You mean your Bilsteins are softer than OEMs??? Or rather it rattles more? Normally Bilsteins firms up the ride and sometimes too much so.

 

I have heard of spring sag, but nothing to the extent it is seen here. I personally have never owned a car that the sag was noticable or detrimental to the ride quality. Seems to be an accepted problem here.. Just saying its not something I have been concerned with.. A lift is waay down the road so I will deal for now.. I would like to step up to a 285 tire but I still am not sure what kind of lift is needed for that.. nor cost etc.. got a lot of other things like paying off the 2nd mortgage etc.. that are a higher priority.

 

if you dont offroad bratliff, thats probably why, you've never SERIOUSLY used, or even ABUSED the springs in your car(s) which is why you've never seen noticeable sag, mmost fo the vehicles here though go offroad and flex those springs more thean they were meant to flex, which helps them to sag. Which is why its an accepted problem here.

 

That makes total sense.. this is my first 4wd... I have always lowered my cars/trucks if I did anything to them... But needs have changed so I am learning all about lifts etc.. now.. The best offroading I have done is playing in the creek in my front yard..

 

No worries man. I didn't put springs on mine for a lift, I put them on because I couldn't even go over a speed bump without bottoming out the suspension pretty hard. Driving down a fire road/dirt road was a teeth rattling experience. After putting on the OME Medium Springs I was able to fly down fire roads or over speed bumps with ease. The level of lift was actually to the same level as a stock 1999. In 2000 the 4Runners came as low riders so it was definitely an improvement.

 

They are much, much softer than my stock shocks, and to be honest I am puzzled....everyone here seems to like them. I am starting to wonder if I got some duds or a maybe they sent me the wrong ones.

I could not believe how poorly it handles and dives in curves and after a dip in the road....I'm thinking about contacting Bilstein. The thing is, I cannot tell if it is all of them...it almost feels like it is just the rears.

 

That does sound wierd. Which model numbers are your Bilsteins (my BE5-2450/51 certainly reduced diving and body lean over stock)